United Nations Development Programme

A mother and child recover from malaria in a hospital in Burundi. The government provides free health care for pregnant women and children under five. (Photo: Maria Cerna/UNDP Photo Contest)

New recommendations by a high-level panel on population and development mark a major step forward in advancing the health of women and girls, who are widely acknowledged as the crux of global development but still suffer needlessly from violence, discrimination, unwanted pregnancies and high rates of maternal mortality.

The task force, created in 2012, is charged with reviewing and advancing the work of the 1994 ICPD in Cairo. That meeting resulted in a groundbreaking programme adopted by 179 governments, placing the human rights of women, including their health and reproductive rights, at the centre of the sustainable development agenda.

The panel aims to galvanize political will to advance an agenda that ensures the rights of all—putting sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, and empowerment of women and young people front and centre in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

The Task Force notes that 800 women die every day as a result of avoidable pregnancy- and childbirth-related complications, while 222 million women who would like to prevent pregnancy are not using modern contraception—contributing to 80 million unplanned pregnancies and 20 million unsafe abortions every year. One in three girls under 18 will be married without her consent in low- and middle-income countries, while up to seven in 10 women experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetimes.

ICPD’s vision remains as relevant and urgent now as it was 19 years ago.

The Task Force has shown courage and foresight in addressing major challenges confronting women’s health, human rights and development. Many of its recommendations resonate with those of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, which UNDP convened on behalf of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS.

We now know that structural and social inequalities, often perpetuated by punitive and discriminatory laws, function as barriers to accessing HIV and other health services. At the same time, ill-conceived laws and harmful customary practices such as child marriage reinforce profound gender inequalities.

Calls for equal rights, human rights and dignity for women and girls are rightly growing around the world. A new agenda will succeed the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals in 2015: It must make women’s health and empowerment a top priority—reflecting the crucial role women play in advancing development.